Seishun 18 Ticket

In this occasion, I would like to share to you a pretty useful information about how to travel cheaply in Japan, especially for people who are currently living and taking their studies in Japan.

One of many alternatives to travel in an inexpensive way during our stay in Japan is using a special ticket called Seishun 18 ticket (青春18きっぷ).

The name itself literally means "Youth 18", however there is no actual age limitation to use the ticket.

By purchasing the Seishun 18 ticket at the price of 11,850 JPY, we will get 5 slots, from each of which one person can travel all around Japan using local (futsū/普通), rapid (kaisoku/快速), and
special rapid (shin-kaisoku/新快速) trains operated by Japan Railway (JR) company for one whole day (00:00 - 23:59).

So, for example, if we travel in a group of 5 people, we can use this ticket for a one-day trip.

However, if we travel alone, we can go on a 5-day trip by spending one slot of the ticket for each day.

We can buy the ticket over every ticket counter at JR train stations or a travel agency throughout Japan.

This seasonal ticket is sold and valid only during three periods:

1. Spring

Period of sales: Feb 20 - Mar 31

Period of validity: Mar 1 - Apr 10

2. Summer

Period of sales: Jul 1 - Aug 31

Period of validity: Jul 20 - Sep 10

3. Winter

Period of sales: Dec 1 - Dec 31

Period of validity: Dec 10 - Jan 10

Several things that we need to be careful in using this ticket:

1. This ticket does not include the use of JR buses, express (kyūkō/急行), limited express (tokkyū/特急), bullet (shinkansen/新幹線), and Green Car trains. Please check the type of the train before you
get on it, lest you will get charged with additional fares. To understand the differences between various types of trains in Japan, you can check this